Buckwalter Blasts to Big Diamond Victory
Pottsville, Pennsylvania (June 7, 2019)………For the second time in their first four races together, Timmy Buckwalter piloted the Bill Gallagher-owned, Curt Michael-prepared entry into victory lane in Rapid Tire USAC East Coast Sprint Car Series action.
The win for Buckwalter kicks off what is a busy schedule for the driver as he will compete in modified action on Saturday at Grandview Speedway before moving on to action next week with the USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car Series in their annual “Eastern Storm.”
Buckwalter was able to maneuver his way to the heat race victory in a duel with Carmen Perigo which would send Buckwalter to the redraw. Timmy drew the second-place position, start him alongside Chandler Leiby.
As the field went to green Buckwalter slid back a couple of positions with Leiby grabbing the early race lead. A caution would quickly fly for Joe Biasi who clipped an infield tire and sent him spinning into the infield ending his night. As the field would go back to green Leiby would again work his way into the lead holding off challenges from Carson Short and Steven Drevicki.
The caution would again fly on lap 9 for Jonathan Swanson and Ryan Quackenbush bunching the field back up. On the ensuing restart, Buckwalter would power to the outside around Leiby in turns three and four, taking the lead and looking to run away. Buckwalter would maintain a solid lead while the battle was on for positions two through seven. Steven Drevicki, Leiby, Short, Perigo, Strada, and Chris Allen were all in close competition with no driver feeling in comfortable control of their position. A caution flag would fly again on lap 16 for a spinning Eric Jennings, setting up a restart.
The restart would again see high contention for positions inside the top 10 with Drevicki moving into the second-place position. Other drivers would see highly contested action for spots in the top six. The final caution of the event would fly on lap 22 for Steve Surniak who ended up getting into an infield tire. The restart would be the chance the Drevicki wanted to try and grab the win away from Buckwalter, but it wasn’t meant to be as Buckwalter would go on to take the checkers. Steven Drevicki would come home second, Carson Short third, Carmen Perigo made a strong high side move to grab fourth powering to the outside around Strada and Leiby, with Chandler Leiby collecting yet another top-five finish.
While the night was great for some, it was bad for others, with some in the in between. The night started off rough for Ryan Quackenbush and Brian Riccio. Quackenbush would have the front end folded up on his machine on lap one, of heat one before collecting Riccio who would go for a series of flips into the infield. Riccio was making just his second start of the season before the flip.
Trevor Kobylarz would make his return to the Rapid Tire USAC East Coast Series, following missing the last two events with engine issues. Kobylarz was out to a solid lead in heat race number three before an exploding left rear would end his heat race. Unfortunately, the tire failure broke the shock and other components off the Kobylarz car. The team opted to sit out for the remainder of the night to keep things fresh for the upcoming eastern swing.
Despite the troubles in the heat race for Ryan Quackenbush, and a caution early on in the feature, he would rebound with a solid effort to collect the Scotty Signs Hard Charger award. The New York turned Pennsylvania transplant has had a bit of an up and down season, but the team never quits and works hard to get to every event. They were rewarded with a solid finish and a few extra winnings on Friday night, proving that while they may get down, they’re never out.
In their first race together Carson Short, and the Chris Dyson Racing, Sean Michael-prepared entry had a solid night. The team pulled the number one pill for the night and started on the pole of heat one. Carson would cruise to the heat victory before having a strong third-place run in the feature event as a great tune-up before next week’s USAC National Sprint action.
The next event for the Rapid Tire USAC East Coast Sprint Car Series comes on Sunday, June 30th at the Glen Ridge Motorsports Park where the series will make their inaugural visit.
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USAC RAPID TIRE EAST COAST SPRINT CAR RACE RESULTS: June 7, 2019 – Big Diamond Speedway – Pottsville, Pennsylvania
FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer, top-3 to redraw) 1. Carson Short (#20 Dyson), 2. Joey Biasi (#B1 Biasi), 3. Chandler Leiby (#119 Leiby), 4. Bill Unglert (#33B Unglert), 5. Steve Surniak (#1ST Surniak), 6. John Stehman (#23 Stehman), 7. Craig Pellegrini, Jr. (#11A Pellegrini), 8. Ryan Quackenbush (#5Q TQT), 9. Brian Riccio (#09 Riccio). NT
SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer, top-3 to redraw) 1. Mark Bitner (#15 Bitner), 2. Eddie Strada (#42E Strada), 3. Steven Drevicki (#19 Drevicki), 4. Jake Winters (#1J Winters), 5. Austin Bishop (#11 Bishop), 6. Larry McVay (#83 McVay), 7. Heidi Hedin (#3H Hedin), 8. David Swanson (#117 Swanson). NT
THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer, top-3 to redraw) 1. Timmy Buckwalter (#5G Gallagher), 2. Carmen Perigo (#21 Perigo), 3. Chris Allen, Jr. (#71 Allen), 4. Tyler Brehm (#21R Brehm), 5. Connor Leoffler (#22 Leoffler), 6. Eric Jennings (#32 Neiger/Hamilton), 7. Jonathan Swanson (#17J Swanson), 8. Trevor Kobylarz (#14 Kobylarz). NT
SEMI: (12 laps, top-5 transfer) 1. Jennings, 2. Stehman, 3. McVay, 4. Pellegrini, 5. J. Swanson, 6. Hedin, 7. D. Swanson. NT
FEATURE: (25 laps) 1. Timmy Buckwalter, 2. Steven Drevicki, 3. Carson Short, 4. Carmen Perigo, 5. Chandler Leiby, 6. Eddie Strada, 7. Chris Allen, Jr., 8. Bill Unglert, 9. Connor Leoffler, 10. Mark Bitner, 11. Tyler Brehm, 12. Austin Bishop, 13. Ryan Quackenbush, 14. John Stehman, 15. Eric Jennings, 16. Larry McVay, 17. Jonathan Swanson, 18. Jake Winters, 19. Steve Surniak, 20. Craig Pellegrini, Jr., 21. Joey Biasi. NT
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**Riccio flipped during the first heat.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-9 Leiby, Laps 10-25 Buckwalter.
SCOTTY SIGNS HARD CHARGER: Ryan Quackenbush (21st to 13th)
NEXT USAC RAPID TIRE EAST COAST SPRINT RACE: June 30 – Glen Ridge Motorsports Park – Fultonville, New York
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Sources: Nick Fillman – USAC East Coast Sprint Cars
Winner Timmy Buckwalter and family. (Chad Warner Photo)